“Your senator, Kay Hagan, couldn’t be here,” he said. “But I wanted to thank her publicly for the great work she’s doing.”

One CNN reporter equated her excuse for missing Obama’s event to the classic “I’m washing my hair” excuse used by people to avoid bad dates.

Hagan, a staunch supporter of Obamacare, has been hurt by the law’s disastrous rollout. A poll by left-leaning Public Policy Polling showed the embattled senator trailing all Republican challengers vying for her seat this year. She has just a 30 percent approval rating among independents, according to the survey.